Clutch.



PATENTED MAY 5, 1908.

A. W. WIGGLESWORTE ULUTGH.

APPLIOATIOK FILED OG1.9,190'I.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1;

No. 886,667. PATENTED MAY 5', 1908 A. W. WIGGLBSWORTH.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 srar ns a ALBERT w. wioc-Lsswonrn, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS;

CLUTCH.

no. seaesv.

original application filed Kay 31, 1867, $sria1 T all whom may concern:

Be it known that l, ALBERT W; WiooLns- I worrrn, a citizenbf the United States, and

clutch devices for fixing a normally loosea resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook "and State of lllinms, have invented certain new and useful lm rovements in Clutches and i. do hereby dec are that the following is a full, clear. and exact description thereof,

' reference being had to the accompanying it is mounted, and t e invention consists in the matters hereinafterset forth and more Sgiecification of Letters Patent.

particularly pointed'out in the appendedcl ims.

Among the obyects of my invention is to provide a clutch'device of simple and inexpensive construction for looking a gear wheel or the like to its shaft, the parts being so arranged asto exert a powerful frictional or clutchingenga ement with the use of com- ,psrat vely small manually applied powerto operate the clutch.

A. further object of the invention is to provide an improved means for adjusting the clutch to compensate for wear.

that type illustrated in my prior application for United Etates Letters Patent Serial N urnber 376,686 filed May 31st, 1907, of which Gther objects of the invention will appear" I from the description which follows.

' this application is a division, but it may obi.

viously be applied to other uses.

in the drawingsz-Figure l iss central longitudinal section ,of one form of the clutch device made in accordance with my invention. Fi s. 2 and 3 are transverse sections,

taken on lines 22 and 53, respectively, of

.clutch device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5, are perspective views of clutch actuating fingers emplo ed in the I ig. 6 illustrates another ada tation of my clutch device applied to the cod .mechanism of a drillingniachine of the character shown in my aforesaid application, said section being talren on line 65 of 7 and looking downwardly. Fig. 7 is an axial section thereof. Figs. and ii are perspective views of the Patented May d lQQB.

No. 376.636. Divided and on; application filed October a, new. Serial No. 396,584. I

clutch actuating fingers employed in the clutch shown iIiFig. 6

First describing the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 5. inclusive, 10 designates a shaft and i1 and 12 designate oppositely facing beveled gears mounted thereon. Said gears are normally loose on the shaft and designed to beflocked thereto by the clutch device herein shown. Said gears 11, 12 may mesh with two like gears to alternately drive them in the same direction, or they may mesh with a single bevel gear in a manner to'reversc the rotation of said single gear'and the parts driven thereby. The latter arrangement is shown in my prior application before referred to. 14 designates a spool which has sliding movement on the shaft between the gears 11 and 12 and is adapted to be shifted toward one or the other of said gears through the medium of ashifting lever 15 to se arately lock said gears to the shaft,.one oft 1e gears being loose on the shaft while the other is locked thereto.

The gears 1 1 and 12 are formed on their inner faces to provide recesses having cylindric, inwardly facing friction faces 20. Contained within each of said recesses is anexpanding friction clutch member 21 having an exteriorly cylindric friction face adapted to be forced'into frictional engagement with the friction face 20 of the gear. Each friction member comprises a circular plate or disk fixed by a key 22 to' the driving shaft 10, said key engagin said shaft an friction member. In the construction/shown the friction members 21 carry pins 23, 23 extending between and extend-ingthrough openings in the spool to fix the: spool non-rotatively to he shaft. Each friction member is cut away at one side thereof from its periphery to its axial bore, as indicated by 24 so that the parts at the opposite sides of said cutaway portion con- ,stitute what may be termed two arms 25, 25

' in the manner shown in Fig. 3 so as to weaken the arms thereof and permit them to be spread outwardly by the power available for t, is purpose, while afiording a central part opposing grooves formed in Each 'iixed at. their ends in said-member and also structed and arranged as follows:

111% pins carried by which the member he firmly attached to the shaft 10. The resiliency of the clutch members hold them normally out of clutching engagement with the gears. They are expanded outwardly into clutching err-- gegenient with the friction surface of the genre by means made as follows: 30, 31 designate clutch actuating fingers, of which there are two pairs, one pair at each side of the shaft 10, as indicated in hill and dotted lines in Fig. 1. The lingers of each pair we tend. through lateral openings 32 in. the clutch spool-14 and the ends of said fingers enter openings 33 in the clutch members 21. The said openings 33 of the clutch members open into the spaces 24 dividin the arms of i the clutch members, one the hngersBO and 3] partially occupy said openings 24. The said fingers are pivoted 111 the openings 33'loy of the clutch spool into the spaces between the ends oi said lingers and said pins are provided with hearing rollers 37 which engage the inner or adj scent margins of said fingers. The seid inner or adj scent margins of the lingers are formed to provide curved lateral extensions 38 having their convex surfaces facing inwardly and in contact with. each other at points between said pins and their pivoted ends at a. time when the clutch is in its inoperative or when the clutch spool is moved endwise with respect to the fingers the bearing roller of one of the pins acts on the curved nmrgins of the lateral extensions of the ossocia. ted fingers to separate or spread apart suid fingers, with the result of expanding the clutch member towards which the spool is shifted.

The manner of fu'lcruming the lingers one upon the other constitutes an important feature of my invention, the parts being con- 40, 4o desi "note wcdge-sheped blocks interposed one etween the fulcrum ends of each air of fingers. The block of each pair is earned by one of the fingers of said pen, the fingers 30, herein shown. The inclined feces of the blocks converge inwardly toward the openby the clutch spool. The other lingers 31 are provided opposite to the blocks with hearing portions 4-1 which hear against the adj scent incli ed feces oi the bloclrs 4:0. The said he: rug portions re herein shown as more or pointed, but

unlocking position. Thus sooner are attached to the fingers 30 by means of screw-threuded shanks 42 thereon. which eX.- tend. through the a. ertures oi s-pertured lugs 43 formed on suit fingers 30, said. shanks being locked to the lugs by lock nuts 44. The inner margins of the fingers 31 are out sway to afford spaces .10 receive the lugs 43. The faces of said bloc-ks opposite to those engeged by the lugs t1 lie egeinst fiat seats 45 on the fingers 30 and slide inwardly on said seats. Ey movement of said blocks inwardly, which is effected through the screw action of the shenlrs and nuts 44, the device is sdjusted to compensate for wear of the friction surfaces of the clutch elements.

The advantage of arranging the adjusting blocks 40 with their tapered ends fecing inwardly is that the outwardly inclined faces 'ofthe blocks egeinst Which the fingers 31 beer avoid tendency of the bearing ends of the fin ers from slipping outwardly on blocks when t e fingers are spread. sport to expend the clutch rings. The arrangement is such that the hearing contact between the fingers 31 and blocks are approximately equidistant from. the pivots of the fingers, and this pro portion is. mainteined throughout the range of adjustment of the blocks The said points of bearing contact between the blocks and fin -"ers er 'suhstentiully in. e plane which cuts sitid points and the saris of the spreading studs 36. The adjusting shanks of said blocks are disposed. obliquely to such plane and this relation of the parts is maintained blocks. An advantage of the construction described is that the edj'usting devices of the shanks of said blocks the nuts 44, as herein shown) are readily accessible, they being loeeted a. substantial distance from the fulcrum oiuts of the fingers and between the levers. lhus the clutch is adaptable for use in a hollow beveled gear, as herein shown, and other relatively inaccessible locations without the necessity of cutting ewe-y t ny part of the gear or other like part to e'liord access to the adjusting devices. v

The form of clut oh'devioe 6 to 9, inclusive, is adapted for use in locations where the spreading movement of the lingers is in the plane of the clutch ring or member. t is shown in seid mentioned figures as adapted to lock the automatic feed worm wheel to the feed shaft 51 of e drilh ing machine. The feed worm wheel is recessed on its under side to provide chamber having 'cylindric inner 55 and within the chamber or is contained a clutch member or ring 55, outer cylindric face of which adopted for iri c tionel engagement with the inner cylindric face 55 of sci d chem {her or root The said ring or clutch memher divided st 58, thus constituting the ports of the ring et eeoh side of soul div sion may be otherwise shaped. The blocks 40 throughout the rengeof adjustment of theshown in Figs.

ssacev two spring arms 59, 59 which are adapted to be spread apart to bring the cylindric friction face of the ring into frictional enga ement with the cylindric inner face 55 of t e worm wheel recess. Such spreading of the spring arms of the c utch ring or member is effected by means of clutch actuating fingers 60, 61 generally similar to the clutch actuating fingers 30, 31 before described. Said clutch actuating fingers 60, 61 are, in this instance, contained within the recess of the worm wheel and have movement in the plane of the clutch ring Said clutch actuating fingers enter at their outer ends suitable notches formed in the ends of the spring arms of the clutch ring and they are pivoted to said arms by pivot pins 62-. One of said fingers, the finger 61, is provided with a conical shaped projection or lug 64 which bears against one of the faces of an inwardly converging wedge block 65 carried by the finger 60. Said wed e block is fixed to the finger 60 by a screw s anki 66 locked to a lug 67 on said fin er in the same manner as in the construction efore described, thus roviding for adjustment of the'fulcrums of tlie fin ers to com ensate for wear of the friction sur ace of the c utch ring and wheel. The ends of the fingers remote from the fulcrums are cutaway or curved outwardly on their inner margins to rovide a space through which extends the feed shaft 51. The extreme ends of said fingers are curved toward each other and meet in the plane of the axis of said shaft.

70 designates a spider frame comprising a flat plate 71 which fits fiat against the lower side of the clutch ring and is provided with a curved flange 72, concentric with the axis of the worm wheel, which extends into the space surrounded or inclosed bv the clutch ring. Said fiange fits closely within inwardly projecting parts or lugs 73 of said ring, as shown in Big. 6,. In order to prevent said spider and clutch ring from angularly shifting relatively to each other the said parts are provided at the point of contact of the flange of said s ider with oneof the projections 73 of the c utch ring with an openingformed half in one part and half in the other, and a pin 75 fitting in said opening affords an interocking connection between the parts. The said spider is provided with a central hub 76 which fits upon theend of the shaft below the worm wheel and is fixed to the shaft .by means of a removable pin 77 ex tending transversely through the hub and the shaft.

Depending from the hub is a cross-head or flange 80 to which are ivoted, by means of pivot pins 81, 81, hand levers 82, 83 which constitute means whereby the feed shaft may be rotated independently of the worm wheel when the clutch is released. The hand lever 83 also constitutes means for actuating the clutch device and, to that end, is provided with a prolongation 85 which extends up-.

wardiy between the inwardly curved ends of the. fingers 60 and 61. Said prolongation is provided with shearing roller 88 which engages the inner curved margins of said fingcrs. When said levers are pressed together therefore the u per end 85 of the lever 83" swings outward y and acts to spread or force the curved ends of the clutch actuating fingers outwardly, thereb actuating the clutch to lock the worm whee to the shaft. When the free ends of the levers 82, 33 are s read apart and the clutch released, said evers serve as handles to rotate the feed shaft; a

. Means are provided for locking the levers 82, 83' in position to hold the clutch in its locking position, comprising rigid arms 90, 90

on saidlevers which extend inwardl tot'vaids each other and are pivotally j oined y a pivot pin 91 extending transversely. through tie-.1:

overlapping inner ends thereof.

actuate the clutch the pivoted ends ofsaid arms are raised above the plane of thepivot studs 81, 81 thus locking the levers from swinging outwardly.

I claim as my invention v 1. 'In a clutch, the combination with a clutch member, fingers pivotedto said clutch Thus'fwhen' the levers are swung toward each other-to" member and fulcrumed one on the other ne'ar their pivoted'ends, and fulcrum-adjusting means between the pivoted ends of the finto the fingers.

.gers and movable endwise of and relatively 2. In a clutch, the combination with a. f

' point, longitudinally of the fingers, for actuating said fulcrum piece.

4. In a clutch, the fcombination with a clutch member, fingers iivoted to said clutch member and an inward y tapered, adjustable fulcrum block between said fingers at the pivoted ends thereof.

5. In a clutch, the combination with a clutch member, fingers ivoted to said clutch member and an inward y tapered, adjustable fulcrum block-between said fingers at the pivoted ends thereof, and means located between said block and the spreading ends of said fingers for'actuating said block, for the purpose set forth.

6. In a clutch, the combination with a clutch member, fingers pivoted to said clutch member and an inwardly tapered, adjustable fulcrum. block between said fingers at the pivoted ends thereof, and means for spread ing the swinging ends of said fingers, tne fule pivots and 1 operating upon the swinging;

3 ends of the clutch fingers.

with a recess having an internal friction face,

r to engage the internal friction face in said re- 151A clutch member comprising, in combination with a shaft and a gear wheel or the like loosely mounted thereon and provided with a recess having an internal friction face, a clutch member located in said recess and non-rotatively fixed to the shaft and provided with an external friction face adapted cess, .two fingers pivotally mounted on said olutchmember and located in said recess, said fingers being fulcrumed one upon the other adjacent to their pivots and swinging in the plane of said clutch member, a hand lever pivoted to a part fixed to said shaft andprovided with an extension which enters 'between the'elutch fingers remote from their pivots" and operating Upon the swinging movement of the lever to spread apart the ends of the clutch fingers, and means for locking said lever in the latter position.

16. A'clutch member comprising, in combination with a shaft and a gear wheel or the like loosely mounted thereon and provided a clutch member located in said'recess and 'nor' r'otatively 'llX6d,tO the shaft and pro vided with an external friction face, adapted to engageithe internal friction face in said reoess, two.) fingers pivotally mounted on said. clutch member and locatedm said recess;

said fingers. being fulcrumed one upon the other adj acent to their pivots a'ndswinging in the plane of. said clutch member, and a hand lever pivoted to a partfixed to said shaft and provided with an extension which enters between said clutch fingers remote from their pivots and operating upon the swinging movement of the leverfto spread.

apart the endslof the clutch fingers, said lever being arranged to constitute m'eans'for rotating said shaft relatively to the gear when the clutch is released.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as n y inventi'on *I affix my signature in the resence of two witnesses, this 1st day, ofctober A. D; 1907.

LB T ww'icoLEsWoRTH.

' Witnesses WI LIAM L; HALL, GEORGE R. Wnrmns, 

